04 February 2016•Update: 09 February 2016
BERLIN
German police units have raided several houses, workplaces and a refugee shelter in various cities and arrested two suspects with possible links to the Daesh terrorist organization.
Berlin police said the raids were conducted Thursday as part of an investigation into a four-member group, which is suspected of having ties to Daesh and plotting attacks in Germany.
“They are suspected of planning possible attacks in Germany and have ties with the terror group IS [Daesh],” police said in a written statement.
German press agency DPA reported that the tapped telephone conversations of suspects led to a suspicion that they might have been identifying possible targets in Berlin, including tourist attractions, for a terrorist attack in the German capital.
The main suspect, a 35-year-old Algerian man, and his 27-year-old wife, who is believed to have acted as a contact person, were arrested at a refugee shelter in Attendorn, a small town of North Rhine-Westphalia.
Both of them were wanted by Algerian authorities for their suspected links to Daesh. The man had received military training in camps in Syria, the report also said.
As part of the investigation, another suspect of the group, a 49-year-old Algerian was also arrested in Berlin, based on an arrest warrant issued due to an alleged forgery.
Police did not find any weapons or explosives during the raids Thursday but seized several computers and mobile telephones.